‘Mental health support crucial for migrants to deal with long-term trauma’

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) – The desire for a safe, peaceful and prosperous life pushes migrants to take perilous journeys, facing abuse and harassment on the way, stripped of basic necessities and their dignity.

These experiences have long-term effects and leave them with long-term trauma, according to Pamela Kerpius, head of an organization advocating for migrant rights.

“There is a great need for mental health support services in the migrant community … Even if people aren’t speaking about their trauma, they have it,” she told Anadolu in a video interview.

Kerpius’s organization, Migrants of the Mediterranean, is a humanitarian storytelling organization. It documents experiences of migrants, mostly those who cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of better lives.

Without proper mental health support, migrants keep carrying their traumatic experiences throughout their lives, with no way to overcome that heavy burden of emotions, she said.

“Wherever they go, there’s still going to be this issue of not fitting into society and being understood as an outsider,” said Kerpius, adding that this may result in a lot of depression and anger.

Migrants of the Mediterranean, founded in 2016, has so far documented the stories of some 100 refugees.

A majority of them were people who arrived in Italy through the Mediterranean Sea, with their country of departure being Libya.

Kerpius said the idea for the organization came to her when she first visited Italy’s Lampedusa island for a holiday.

“The narrative that was going forth in the media was that the people we were seeing on Lampedusa were people we should be afraid of,” she said.

But her experiences showed her otherwise as she continued to go back to Lampedusa to understand the situation and how it was being managed.

She spoke to the people one-on-one as they narrated their journeys.

In Italy, most of the people her organization has documented came from West African and sub-Saharan African countries, such as Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal and Guinea.

Kerpius and her team also follow migrants arriving in other European countries, as well as Asia, with four correspondents dedicated to documenting their stories.

For instance, in the Netherlands, the NGO met refugees who mostly came from Syria, entering through Eastern Europe.

The organization also keeps track of migrants that it first documented in Lampedusa, who over the years have moved to other cities of Italy, or even other countries.

They stay in touch, documenting their present situation, including details about the asylum process.

- Italy’s shifting migrant policies

Once migrants reach Lampedusa, they are transferred to the migrant reception center, known locally as the “hotspot,” for processing, explained Kerpius.

A few years ago, the center was open, in theory. There was a fence around it but there was a gap in the fence, which meant people were able to leave and go to the main town.

It was in the town center that Kerpius would meet refugees, and being an English speaker, was able to connect with people.

But now with limited access to the hotspot, she finds it difficult to do her work.

Kerpius feels that Italy’s policy toward migrants has “definitely shifted” over the years.

“There’s been the right-wing populist movement that’s really exploded in the country and that has affected how migrants are received,” she said.

But she also believes that there is a “dissonance between the policies you see on paper and being enacted at the ports, versus what you actually find when you’re talking to people out in the world.”

There are people who agree with the right-wing policies, but there are just as many who do not, she said.

“There are always people who are extending compassion, who have a lot of concern about the people in the migrant community ... I have to consider that a line of hope,” she added.

Regarding the recent surge in migrants reaching Lampedusa, Kerpius said that the situation is a unique one because it is a small island.

“There isn’t the kind of resources available to the people of Lampedusa to manage a humanitarian crisis like this. This is something that can be averted,” she said.

She feels that the crisis can be managed with the support of the Italian government.

“But instead, what happens is that it’s left to a really small community to manage and the result is always going to be one of overwhelm. And because of that, it creates a political line of reasoning that, you know, this is something we just can’t manage,” she added.